St Mary's School

Kia ora e te whānau,

How good is it to be back at school for 2024 and into routine again? We are so excited to have your kids back at school and keen to learn. They've all settled into their new classrooms with ease and there is a really cool buzz around the place. We've already enjoyed several highlights as you'll see below and look forward to many more throughout the school year.

Something our teaching staff are particularly looking forward to is further implementing our new Religious Education Curriculum - To Tātou Whakapono - Our Faith. A huge amount of work has been put into rejuvenating and deepening this curriculum to reach all our students as well as their families. I've been rereading the Bishop's foreword and introduction this week and there is some real gold in there that I wanted to share with you. I couldn't explain our role as teachers in a Special Character Catholic school any better. Have a read:

In a Catholic school, teaching is much more a vocation than a profession. It is an opportunity to participate in the mission of Jesus by sharing his Good News with the young people in our care and their families in our community. This is particularly so for teachers of Religious Education who accept the responsibility and challenge of imparting particular knowledge and understandings to support young people in developing a lifelong relationship with Jesus and the Church.

Teaching Religious Education is hard but sacred work, especially in the face of growing secularisation and increasing demands on teachers’ time in terms of compliance and professional expectations. It is a worthy challenge to hold on to the genuine joy of the Gospel which forms the heart of our Catholic Schools. It is to that joy that Christians are called in our changing world: knowing and loving Christ, living Gospel values, being people of justice, developing positive relationships and remaining aware of God’s presence. The teacher of Religious Education chooses to be the instrument of this message. She or he engages with young people and teaches them knowledge which affirms that Jesus is their Saviour, role model, and friend; that the Holy Spirit is with them guiding and nourishing; that the Creator is continuously gifting and loving.

Mahia te taha wairua, mama noa te kiko – Te Maiharoa.

Take care of the spiritual and the material will be alright.

Ma te Atua e manaaki - God bless,

Mallory

Principal | Tumuaki

On Thursday 1st February (the first day of school) Iyla, Connor, Eden and Mason were the lucky recipients of a prize put together by High Country Helicopters and Hokonui - being flown to school in a helicopter! And what a choice helicopter it was too! As you'll see in the photos below, the rest of the school (as well as their friends and families) came out to welcome them onto the paddock, cheering and waving as they flew over us - the excitement was real. Our kids hear and see the rescue chopper coming in quite often to collect sick people so it was a nice change to have a helicopter landing on our grounds for a positive reason. Thanks to Chitty and the team at High Country Helicopters for organising such a cool prize for 4 well deserving kids.

On Thursday morning after we welcomed the crew in the helicopter, we went over to the Church to welcome our new Parish Priest and School Chaplain and our new Deputy Principal. Our new year 6 leaders did a fantastic job of leading the liturgy and even performing our haka after 6 weeks holiday - they're going to be awesome role models this year. Father Sani Lam has very recently joined our parish after leaving Alexandra. We are very excited to have him join us and we can already tell he's going to be a gem - he's already been over to school to play some games with the kids at lunch time. We also welcome Mrs Shelly Snell to our team as our Deputy Principal. Shelly has slotted in beautifully with our current staff and while she hasn't got a class of her own until later in the year, she will be spending her time working across the school getting to know all our students. We stoked to have both you join us and we hope you enjoy your time at St Mary's.

This week we also welcome (in order of photos)

Grayson Sanders - Grayson is joining Room Pūkeko and is the first in his family to start at St Mary's School. We also welcome his mum and dad, Kelsey and Ben.

Thomas and Charlie Richardson - Thomas has also joined Room Pūkeko and Charlie is enjoying getting to know the other girls in Room Rūrū. Welcome also to their mum and dad, Kim and Keith.

Riley Inder is the first in his family to start at St Mary's School and he is enjoying his time in Room Moa. We also welcome his mum and dad, Amanda and Brad.

We are so happy to have you all join our St Mary's community and we hope you thoroughly enjoy your time here with us.

We are also very fortunate to have two 3rd year teaching students join us for the year. Miss Emily Fricker is working with Mrs Christie and Ann-Marie in Room Pīwakawaka and Mr Hagen Ferguson is working with Mrs Cruickshank, Rach and Megan in Room Moa. Throughout the year they will have several postings of 2 or more weeks in a row and in between times they will be here every Monday helping run the classroom programme alongside their associate teacher before they eventually spend some time in 'full control' of the class.

Keep an eye on your letterbox as we will be having a welcome liturgy for our new children and their families later in the term (it's usually on the Friday at 2pm before assembly) once they're settled in.

Congratulations to Lleyton and Myia Eichstaedt who were baptised at the end of last year. We love it when our tamariki choose to get baptised and become Catholics, it just shows us the importance of providing them with countless opportunities to encounter Christ. Don't they look smart?

Hannah (and big sister Charlotte) had a great day showing cattle at Gore A & P Show. After a huge effort helping prepare her own animals as well as being part of the team preparing and caring for Rob and Margs Hall’s cattle (20 animals all up), Hannah’s own calf Cricket won the Commercial calf section and Hannah won the Junior Handler’s section. Plus Hannah led Rob Hall’s angus bull calf Hika all day, who alongside his enormous Mum Violet took out Champion Large Breeds Cow, Champion Angus, Senior Meat and Wool Cup, Supreme Beef Exhibit, and then Best in Show. That meant that Rob and Hannah led Violet and Hika at the front of the Grand Parade at the end of the day. Pretty special memory for Hannah and a huge couple of days of hard work!

• On Wednesday all students received a blanket consent and device consent that should have made its way home to you. Please return these to your classroom teacher as soon as possible.
• Absences - if your child is going to be away at any stage, please let us know. You can do this by ringing Di (2087733) or texting the office (027 208 7733). If you email to let your teacher know, it is a good idea to copy Di into the email (admin@stmarys.school.nz) as teachers often get busy and may miss these emails. Please also let us know why they are away as we need to code these into our student management system. If your child is away and we haven't heard from you to explain why, then you should receive either a text or a phone call from the school to check in.
• We have an open door policy at St Mary's School. Parents dropping at the gate and waiting to pick up at the gate at the end of the day was part of our Covid procedures but we're well past that now so please know that you are very, very welcome to pop in to your child(ren)'s class at anytime of the day if you want to (of course, if you prefer to wait at the gate, that is fine too). They love showing you their work and our teachers enjoy meeting and catching up with you - it's great for home and school connections which is great for our learners - it's a win, win!
  

How awesome are our Teacher Aides?

This year we are trying a new initiative for our learners who benefit from a little extra learning time in a small group setting. This learning will be concentrated over a six week period where they will work with a teacher aide outside the classroom for half an hour, four days a week. A child may only stay on for one rotation or if needed, they may stay on for longer. The focus of each term will depend where the most needs in the school sit.

Our TA's have spent the last two weeks up skilling and resource making in the areas of:

• Executive Functioning Skills (task initiation, working memory, time management etc)

• English for speakers of other languages (ESOL)

• Literacy support through word work and Milage (reading and writing)

• Structured Literacy (spelling)

This up skilling has been in conjunction with specialist teachers:

- Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour, Lou Stevenson

- Ministry of Education and ESOL Online

- Our own Literacy Lead Teacher, Liz Volp

- Across School Teacher in charge of Literacy (and St Mary’s staff member), Maria Hansen

Each groups programme will be designed by the Teacher Aide leading the group, the children's teacher(s), and the specialist teachers mentioned above. If your child(ren)'s teacher has identified them as a student who could benefit from this new initiative then you should have received a letter today.

Week 2 (5th - 9th Feb) - Mrs Snell

Tuesday - Waitangi Day - school closed

Friday - Assembly - 2.20pm in the Church

Sunday - Whole School Mass - 9.45am in the quad

Week 3 (12th - 16th Feb) - Miss Sutherland and Judy

Monday - Monday prayers in the Church - 8.50am - Room Tuī

Wednesday - Ash Wednesday - Mass with the parish - 9am

Friday - Room Tuī Class Mass - 11am in Room Tuī

Friday - Assembly - 2.20pm in the Church

Week 4 (19th - 23rd Feb) - Miss McRae and Ann-Marie

Monday - Monday prayers in the Church - 8.50am - Room Rūrū

Friday - Room Rūrū Class Mass - 11am in Room Rūrū

Friday - Assembly - 2.20pm in the Church

Week 5 (26th - 1st March) - Mrs Christie and Ann-Marie

Monday - Monday prayers in the Church - 8.50am - Room Pīwakawaka

Wednesday - Whole School Athletics Day

Thursday - Senior long distance running - St Peter's College - TBC

Friday - Room Pīwakawaka Class Mass - 11am in Room Pīwakawaka

Friday - Assembly - 2.20pm in the Church

Week 6 (4th - 8th March) - Mrs Knowler and Jackie

Monday - Monday prayers in the Church - 8.50am - Room Kererū

Thursday - Eastern Athletics

Friday - Room Kererū Class Mass - 11am in Room Kererū

Friday - Assembly - 2.20pm in the Church

Week 7 (11th - 15th March) - Miss Bond and Megan

Monday - Monday prayers in the Church - 8.50am - Room Takahē

Wednesday - Commissioning Mass for Staff with St Peter's College - 4pm

Friday - Room Takahē Class Mass - 11am in Room Takahē

Friday - Assembly - 2.20pm in the Church

Week 8 (18th - 22nd March) - Mrs Thacker and Judy

Monday - Monday prayers in the Church - 8.50am - Room Pūkeko

Friday - Room Pūkeko and Moa combined Class Mass - 11am in Room Pūkeko

Friday - Assembly - 2.20pm in the Church

Sunday - Southland Athletics - Invercargill

Week 9 (25th - 29th March) - Mrs Cruickshank, Megan and Rachael

Monday - Monday prayers in the Church - 8.50am - Room Moa

Friday - Good Friday

Week 10 (1st - 5th April) - Mrs Gray, Mrs Hansen, Norma and Rachael

Monday - Easter Monday

Tuesday - Easter Tuesday

Wednesday - Wednesday prayers in the Church - 8.50am - Room Kiwi

Friday - Room Kiwi Class Mass - 11am in Room Kiwi

Friday - Assembly - 2.20pm in the Church

Week 11 (8th - 12th April) - Mrs Butterfield and Sheilah

Monday - Monday prayers in the Church - 8.50am - Room Kea

Thursday - John Parsons - TBC

Friday - Room Kea Class Mass - 11am in Room Kea

Friday - Assembly - 2.20pm in the Church

Other Dates:

Next Home and School Meeting - TBC

Next School Board Meeting - Monday 4th March - 6pm Staffroom

Email: admin@stmarys.school.nz
Website: https://stmarys.school.nz/
Location: 14 Ardwick Street, Gore 9710, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3-208 7733
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1407464649522913